Brian Hayes has been directly involved in an average of two goals per game for Cork en route to this year's All-Ireland hurling final. Suddenly the fulcrum of the Cork attack, he is now the man to stop.
The St Finbarr's inside forward has either scored, assisted, won the free for or provided the pass prior to the assist for over 70% of his team's total number of goals in the 2025 championship.
That equates to 12 of Cork's 17 goals in their six games leading up to this afternoon's Liam MacCarthy Cup decider against Tipperary. To include the Rebels' successful league campaign, that would bring his 2025 tally of involvements to 24 goals in 13 games. Cork have scored 35 in all across league and championship.
Focusing solely on the latter, he has been directly involved in a total of 12-25 as Cork have navigated their way through the provincial round-robin, the Munster final and then Dublin last time out in the All-Ireland semi-final.
From scoring the very first point of the season in Wexford Park, where he was involved in two goals to spearhead a dominant victory over hosts Wexford, the 24-year-old has kicked on to another level this year after finding progressive form in Cork's run to last season's All-Ireland final.
He has scored 5-08 from play in his team's six championship matches. He also grabbed five league goals through Cork's six regular games and the final. He assisted a Darragh Fitzgibbon goal and raised a white flag himself in that 10-point win over today's opponents Tipperary.
On top of all that, he has assisted 4-06 in championship, as well as another five goal assists in the league campaign beforehand.
Hayes also won the free for 1-04 of Cork's championship total - including one free won by forcing a turnover. Always doing his bit within a hungry-for-work forward line, the former Cork footballer has provided the penultimate pass for a further 2-05, on top of two more in the league.
Brian Hayes fires home Dublin's opening goal in the semi-final
The figures really do speak for themselves as the number 15 has been so heavily involved in his team's attacking play, linking, assisting and finishing moves - he is not only a huge man who can win ball close to goal but he has also developed a beautiful touch and has a powerful burst of pace and sharp instincts to complement his calm decision making. The perfect ingredients for goal production.
Eight of his 13 scores have come off a direct ball into him in the inside line, via a good variation between long, diagonal and more targeted deliveries. Darragh Fitzgibbon has assisted 2-01 of those. Providing the same number of assists but without the goal, Mark Coleman has set him up for 0-03 and has been arguably the most important player in picking Hayes out with longer passes. Aaron Connolly has also assisted his fellow inside forward for two goals.
On the flip side, Hayes has assisted Connolly for one goal and his other corner-forward Patrick Horgan for 1-02, as well as a further 1-04 from frees. Shane Barrett is another of the seven players Hayes has assisted, leaving him in for 1-01.
The St Finbarr's player with supporters after Cork's win over Limerick in the 2024 Munster SHC
Nine of Hayes' 10 assists have been via a flick or short/hand pass, the other being a pinpoint 25-metre pass over his shoulder to pick out Tim O'Mahony after winning a perfectly judged diagonal pass ball from Coleman around the 45.
The big dual star is not just an option for the long ball in the full-forward line, he also regularly drifts out to the half-forward where he is an option to contest puck-outs, helping his team secure possession and with it a foothold in the game at crucial times - as well as varying their patterns to avoid becoming too predictably route one.
Including the puck-outs landed down the wings on top of him, and those with which his goalkeeper Patrick Collins aims for the opposition D, Hayes has contested 39 restarts in total over the past six matches.
Of those 39 contests, Cork have come away with possession on 21 occasions, or 54% of the time. And from those 21 wins they have scored 2-05. Therefore, more than one in four of the puck-outs Hayes has contested has resulted in a Cork score (28%). While 52% of the puckouts he has contested, which Cork have won, have led to a score.
Against Dublin he contested 11, from which Cork won six for 1-01. Whereas in the round-robin defeat to Limerick, he only had four puck-outs hit in on top of him.
In Hurler of the Year form already, he has had nine goal attempts in six matches (scoring five, missing four). Despite the benefits of letting him drift out to wing forward, Pat Ryan's team need him stationed close to goal as much as they can afford.
And from there the numbers are clear, if Cork send enough direct ball into Hayes it will most likely mean goals.
Watch the All-Ireland Hurling Championship final, Cork v Tipperary, on Sunday from 2.15pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player. Follow a live blog on rte.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app. Listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1. Watch highlights on The Sunday Game from 9.30pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player
